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Igniting the Orange Right Off the Bat With Flyers vs. Penguins to Kick Off the Regular Season
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Now that the MLB All-Star festivities are over, it’s time to get it back to hockey.
The Flyers will open their 2026-2027 season at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins:
The Philadelphia Flyers announced today they will open the 2026-27 regular season at Xfinity Mobile Arena by hosting their intrastate rivals the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday, September 30 at 7:30 p.m. The NHL regular season begins two weeks earlier than in previous years, marking September 30 to be the earliest the Flyers have ever had regular season hockey.
The opening game also marks a rematch of the Flyers-Pens First Round series in last year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs and sees the Pens return to Xfinity Mobile Arena for the first time since Game Six in which defenseman Cam York scored the series-clinching goal in overtime for a 1-0 Flyers victory.
Oh yes! Picking up right where we left off. Flyers vs. Yinzers in South Philly to kick off the new season. Hopefully Gritty beats up a Penguin mascot and then throws its lifeless corpse over the balcony, where the patrons below proceed to further beat it up before ushers get involved. You may recall that this action sparked a BIG Flyers run in Game 3.
It would have been nice to debut Leo Carlsson in this game, but alas, it was not meant to be. Noel Acciari will be playing for the other team this time around, though neither organization has made a blockbuster summer move. The Flyers tried, but were matched on the Carlsson offer sheet. Evgeni Malkin extended his contract for another season, which means both he and Sidney Crosby will hit free agency at the same time. Kris Letang has two years on his deal. The Flyers should have the Drysdale and Zegras deals done sooner rather than later.
The full schedule comes out tomorrow, Thursday.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com